Desert Oasis High School

high school football: Jocquez Kalili rushes for 218 yards in a losing effort

By Case Keefer

The most significant play of Canyon Springs’ 30-7 victory over Desert Oasis Friday night came when senior Raequan Bascombe blazed down the field on a kickoff in a blur, quite possibly inconspicuous to the naked eye. But no ears in the area could escape the crunch from the ensuing collision when the 5-foot-8, 150-pound defensive back lowered his shoulder — the same one he separated three weeks ago but decided to play through the pain — into an opponent.

Desert Oasis hopes the old “best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores” trope correspondingly applies to second-year players. The most redeeming quality of the Diamondbacks 2-8 campaign a year ago was how many sophomores they played regularly. Now juniors, that’s the group that will lead Desert Oasis in the 2013 season.

The Bishop Gorman High football team finished Southwest League play Thursday undefeated for the sixth straight season, using a pair of touchdown runs from junior Nate Starks in a 72-21 victory against Desert Oasis.

When you mix just a few returners who happen to be at key positions together with a majority of inexperienced players, it’s difficult to figure out exactly what type of team you’ll have. That’s what Desert Oasis High coach Scott Staudinger is going to find out, and it won’t take him very long to get a good idea of the results.